Two games, 13 goals. No, not the 1990 FA Cup semi-finals but the first two matches of the 2017-18 Premier League season. This was a scruffy yet very entertaining match, and a draw is probably about right. Thanks for your company. You can follow the 3pm kick-offs with Barry Glendenning. Bye!
90+5 min Britos looked offside when Richarlison put the ball across goal, though whether he was technically active, I don’t know. It’s absurd to say he wasn’t, because he was jockstrap-tight to Mignolet, but the law is the law is an ass.
The corner was mishit to the near post, where Wijnaldum’s attempted headed clearance hit Richarlison. He smacked the ball across goal and Mignolet, who stuck out an arm instinctively, diverted it onto the bar with his right bicep. It bounced down and was forced over the line by Britos. It’s his goal.
Watford have equalised from the corner!
90+3 min Richarlison is fouled by Gomez down the Watford left. Holebas free-kick loops up in the air and is punched clear by Mignolet. It comes to Britos, who whips a shot towards goal from just outside the box. Mignolet moves to his left to punch it behind with both fists.
90+1 Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has had a good game, is replaced by Joe Gomez.
90 min There will be five minutes of added huff and puff. Watford look like they have shot their bolt.
88 min Simon Mignolet is booked for timewasting.
86 min James Milner replaces Mo Salah, who will be the subject of many headlines tomorrow (and this afternoon, haven’t you heard of the internet grandad?) if the score stays like this.
86 min Salah wafts a long, diagonal pass to Mane, who moves into the area and plays a precise pass that allows Wijnaldum to strike first time from the edge of the box. He slices it miles wide.
83 min Liverpool’s defence looks more in control than at any stage in the match, which doubtless means Watford are about to equalise.
81 min Divock Origi replaces the weary Firmino, who made one and scored one in the second half (and also made the penalty that he eventually scored). He’s a beautiful player that lad, so underrated.
State of it @finnysteve 👃🏼 pic.twitter.com/ywvaXeFtPc
— Alex Hales (@AlexHales1) August 12, 2017
78 min “It was Alexander-Arnold and not Firmino who took the corner that Matip headed onto the crossbar,” says Thomas Johannessen. “Should’ve gone to Specsavers :p”
That’s the problem: I did.
77 min Salah could have had a hat-trick today. Mane plays him in with another fine through pass, and he stabs the ball into the side netting at the near post. He was under pressure, and the angle was tight.
75 min I wouldn’t like to be punched in the face by Andre Gray. His muscles are almost bursting through his shirt.
74 min “One more year is better than selling Coutinho now with no replacement,” says Tim. “That was the mistake with Suarez, trying to replace him with Rickie Lambert and Balotelli. Maybe say give us one more year, and we’ll line up a replacement (or hope Gruic turns out well). I think the fact Can has yet to sign a new contract probably doesn’t help...”
I would certainly try that. Whether he’ll accept is another matter.
73 min A mix-up between Mignolet and Lovren, who can’t work out who should deal with a routine straight pass and almost end up giving it to Cleverley. The ball bounces kindly for Liverpool and Mignolet is able to claim it at the second attempt.
71 min Salah, found in loads of space on the edge of the area by Can, wallops a bouncing ball a few yards over the bar. After a slow start he has been increasingly influential.
70 min Another chance for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold’s excellent corner from the right is flashed across goal by the head of Lovren, and Gomes moves smartly to his right to push it away.
67 min Holebas is fouled near the corner flag by Salah. Firmino heads the free-kick clear.
65 min From the resulting corner, whipped in by Firmino, the stooping Matip shoulders the ball onto the crossbar.
64 min Liverpool are slowly rediscovering their swagger. Moreno brushes aside Fermenia on the edge of the box and slashes the bouncing ball towards goal with his left foot. Gomes leaps to his right to make an excellent save.
63 min It’s time for Watford’s record signing Andre Gray, who replaces Stefano Okaka.
62 min “Couldn’t agree more with Tom Walker re Klopp and Sakho,” says Tim. “I am a fan of Klopp, but he does seem to be shooting himself in the foot with Sakho, and for not seeming to consider anyone other than Van Dijk. I also disagree with the pre-match Coutinho discussion. For as long as Liverpool keep selling their best players each summer, they’ll never aspire to more than the occasional fourth place. While we are no spendthrifts, Man City have spent three times as much as we have this summer just on full-backs. And it’s not our fault if Barca screwed up with Neymar’s buyout clause (I see Isco’s is now £600m, how long before PSG pay that too?).”
If you keep him and he refuses to play, what do you do then? It just becomes a damaging distraction. At best you can ask him to give you another year, like Ronaldo and Suarez, before selling him.
61 min Alexander-Arnold is booked for a foul on Richarlison.
61 min Salah just fails to reach Alexander-Arnold’s curling through pass. He is lightning.
59 min That’s what Liverpool can do. They’ve been poor for most of this game but lead due to isolated moments of brilliance from their superb front three.
Mo Salah gives Liverpool the lead on his debut. Lovren wafted a pass down the inside-left channel to find Firmino in far too much space. He controlled it beautifully and lifted a lazy chip high over the outrushing Gomes. It wasn’t going in, but it didn’t matter because Salah followed in to bundle the ball over the line.
This is Liverpool.
Firmino drives a solid penalty into the bottom-left corner, with Gomes going the other way.
Anthony Taylor took an age to give this. Firmino stabbed a great pass round the corner to Salah, who knew Gomes was coming and deliberately pushed the ball away from goal. A split-second later Gomes took him out, and it was a clear penalty.
51 min It’s hard to reconcile this Liverpool performance with their exciting pre-season. They look really sluggish by their high-octane standards.
49 min Richarlison, the exciting young Brazilian, replaces Pereyra.
49 min A good move from Liverpool. Eventually Wijnaldum plays a nice pass to Salah, who shuffles the ball to the side and curls a decent effort a few yards wide of the far post.
48 min More injury problems for Watford, who lost Janmaat in the first half. Now Roberto Pereyra has limped off, and is going to be replaced in a minute.
47 min “Liverpool just need a really good centre-back,” says Tom Walker. Hard to get in the current market, though there is this bloke that plays for France, was immense for Crystal Palace at the end of last season going relatively cheap…oh…wait… I fail to understand why Klopp hasn’t had more scrutiny over his handling of the Sakho situation. Less feted managers would have had the third degree from the press over the inability to resolve a personal issue with a player that the club desperately need, who appears committed, and who surely deserves a second chance with the club. Whatever Sakho’s past transgressions he’s no Balotelli.”
46 min Liverpool kick off from right to left.
Half-time chit-chat
“I guess Okaka could only be considered ‘inactive’ if you don’t consider a 215-pound goalscorer distracting to defenders,” says Johnathan Kaszynski. “He definitely influenced the play with his presence in an offside position. No goal for me.”
Sadly, Johnathan, the laws of the game are not interactive. I agree with you that the law is dubious, but it’s also pretty clear and it was undeniably a fair goal.
“I think I’d quite like us to sell Coutinho tomorrow and invest in some half decent defenders as a matter of urgency,” says Fiona Pow. “Our backline’s inadequacy is so familiar it’s almost comforting.”
Like a loveable dog that keeps soiling your favourite rug?
Your half-time homework
Your Sunday starts here
As you may know, our much-loved colleague Dan Lucas died suddenly in March at the age of 31. In south London tomorrow, there will be a cricket match in his memory, and to raise money for charity. Here are some details from his girlfriend Liz.
Dan loved his cricket – whether it be his passionate writing for the Guardian OBO, his enthusiastic commentary for Guerrilla Cricket or in his day to day encyclopaedic cricket chat with friends and family – it’s fair to say he adored the sport. The wonderful guys over at Guerrilla Cricket came up with the idea of holding a cricket match for Dan each year to remember him and his love for the game.
On August 13th 2017 we are going to hold a cricket match for Dan. The event will see two teams play against each other for 30 overs, made up of Dan’s Guerrilla colleagues, his friends, family, fellow Guardian writers and OBO readers. The event will also aim to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes research (JDRF). On the day, they’ll be an afternoon tea, BBQ, music, raffle and a quiz with some wonderful cricket and music themed prizes.”
The prizes include:
It’ll be a very happy, very sad day. I’ve even done a special Radiohead quiz! If you’d like to go, you can email Liz for details of the venue and start time.
The goalicious start to the Premier League season continues. We’ve had ten in one and a half games, and I’d bet my bottom Rolo that there will be more in the second half. Watford deserve to be ahead, having done a savvy counter-attacking job on a subdued Liverpool. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45+3 min Oof, that was close to an equaliser. Firmino swerves a left-wing corner towards Mane, who flicks an excellent header across goal and just wide of the far post.
45 min Apart from that wonderful goal from Mane, Liverpool’s football hasn’t been heavy metal so much as ambient. They can play a lot better than this, and I suspect they will in the second half.
42 min Replays show that Watford’s second goal was fine. Okaka was only in an offside position at a point when he was inactive.
40 min “Amongst all football’s metrics (how did we ever appreciate the game without them?), is there one for ‘Team minutes spent in opposition penalty box’?” muses Gary Naylor. “Strikes me that adding one more man to an attack turns bad final balls into good ones - and goals. I always felt much of Beckham’s crossing reputation was built on having lots of targets.”
Yes, there’s something in that. The great 1998-2001 United team usually had four, sometimes five or six players, in the box. Beckham didn’t hit targets so much as areas, but he got such devastating whip and dip that they were very hard to defend.
38 min Salah misses an excellent chance to score on his debut. Matip played a sharp pass into Firmino, who tried to stab it first time through to Salah. Holebas got his feet in a muddle, allowing Salah to rob him and scoot into the area. He tried to poke the ball past Gomes with his left foot, and instead toebunged it high over the bar.
36 min “Is this game going to follow the route of last night’s ding-dong?” asks Hubert O’Hearn. “I hope so. Tuned in late, but just in time for Mane’s goal. Have a great season (that applies equally to Reds and MBM journos)!”
It’s a tough old season for MBM journos. No winter break, not even a summer break with the World Cup. It’s a good thing we all love our work so much because it’d be hard work otherwise.
34 min There’s a suggestion that Watford’s goal might have been offside. It can’t have been Doucoure, as he was always behind the ball, but maybe somebody in the middle was offside when Cleverley put in the low cross that led to the goal.
The goal was created on the right, where Amrabat wrestled Moreno to win a loose ball. He stabbed it back to Doucoure, who marched forward and angled a good pass to find Cleverley in space on the right of the box. His dangerous low cross pinballed around the six-yard box and fell perfectly for Doucoure, who swept it into the net from close range.
Watford are back in front straight away!
